Felician Athletics - 5/2/08 BASEBALL - Baseball To Celebrate "Mike Rooth Day" Saturday

RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Felician College baseball program will celebrate “Mike Rooth Day” on Saturday prior to its home doubleheader against Wilmington (Del.) University at Breslin Field in Lyndhurst. As part of the ceremony, Felician will retire No. 3 in honor of Rooth, its all-time leading hitter. It will be the first number retired in any sport in the 12-year history of the Golden Falcon athletic program.

Rooth was a four-year starter at Felician from 2003-06, mostly as a catcher. The Bayville, N.J., native recorded 210 career hits and had a collegiate batting average of .388, both school records. In 541 at-bats as a Golden Falcon, he struck out only 34 times, including just eight of 230 in his first two seasons. As a senior, he set single-season school records of 78 hits and 24 doubles, along with one other, 57 RBI, that has since been broken.

“Mike Rooth set the bar for the type of player we want here,” said Felician fifth-year head coach Chris Langan. “For that reason, he is most deserving of owning our first retired number. He played the game the way it should be played… hard. His uniform was always dirty, and he gave every bit of effort he had. He refused to be outworked, and that was what made him the player he was.”

Rooth is Felician’s only four-time all-Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference honoree in baseball, earning three first-team selections, and was named all-Northeast Region as a sophomore. The 5-foot-7, 170-pounder hit more than .400 in three of his four seasons, with a high of .419 as a freshman. A 2002 graduate of Central Regional, he received a bachelor’s degree from Felician in business administration in 2007.